Kubuntu Linux...it's easy to install! See how it was for me.

[Rob]

A few months ago I mentioned in another post that I was going to get into Linux...specifically Kubuntu. Well, I installed Kubuntu 6.06 today and I must say it was a total breeze. I created a blog to document my Kubuntu activities and I just updated it with my installation.

Come on by and visit The Kubuntu Newbie Chronicle: http://kubnewb.blogspot.com/

I'll continue to update it with screenshots and summaries of my thoughts and frustrations. Feel free to leave comments/questions on the blog. I hope to learn Linux over the next few years so I can be proficient in it by the time I graduate Computer Engineering school.

[Kougar]

Looks pretty good... I remember Red Hat 9 had that kind of an updater system, and although it was buggy at the time it was better than nothing at all, as I didn't have a clue what to do with Linux. I knew how to configure and install it as a dual-boot with win98se but that was about it... I have a current copy of Knoppix somewhere that I still use to boot off the CD from too, that is extremely handy to have for older systems without a DVD reading drive or hard drive.

Been hearing alot about Kubuntu though, seems to be the most popular by far now? Learning Linux was always on my to do list, but I've never done more than play around with it really...

I have to say your screenshot reminds me vaguely of OS X for some reason though... ;) And I definitely recommend going with the new Opera 9! As soon as they make it easy to import ALL settings I'll be completely happy with Opera... otherwise it takes me an hour to recustomize everything. :wink:

Since you brought up windows though... it only took 6 actions up front before Vista installed itself all on it's own in ~35-40 minutes, including the updating of the installer package and the finished install itself. From what I've seen so far of it, they're learning a few things from XP at least...

I'll keep tabs on your blog, I've been curious about Kubuntu... ;)

[Rob]

The updater for Kubuntu seems to be quite good. I had no trouble finding and downloading updates. Best of all, after the updates were installed I did not have to reboot.

Yeah, I didn't realize how nice these live CD and DVDs are. It's useful to see if that particular OS will work on your PC or not. I have never used OS X before...all I know is that it's Apple. I'll attempt to install Opera 9 tonight. Ditto for Thunderbird and Firefox. I might as well try Mozilla, too.

Ahhh, so MS got smart about installations? I'm glad to hear they reduced the need for input by the user when installing Vista...not to mention it seems they cut install time down drastically. Good job, MS.

Just keep in mind I'm a total Linux newb...so all of this is new to me. In fact, my 86 year old grandfather is joining me on learning Kubuntu. I went to his house the other day and installed Kubuntu with him. He said he's tired of fooling with MS and its antics. The new Windows Genuine Advantage stealth install that MS recently did put my grandfather over the edge. So he's gung-** about this Linux business now.

[Kougar]

Oh yeah, gotta love the lack of a reboot needed... still run into a few programs that require it for windows. :roll:

Good to hear that the both of you are really getting into Linux ;) Unfortunately I'm probably the only one in my entire side of the family tree that has used Linux, let alone plays around with it! Oh well, someone had to start... :mrgreen:

I really know nothing about Linux, although it didn't take me to long to actually permanently crash Red Hat 9 linux if you logged in under any account other than the root account. :!: I'll admit Vista was faster to crash though, although it didn't go down hard like RH9 did... :mrgreen:

Good luck with your installs, that was always the hardest part for me using linux. Hunting down all the little missing files or libraries needed to compile or install something, drove me nuts. I expect Linux has improved greatly since those days though...

[Rob]

Oh I am sure I'll find some way to screw up Kubuntu beyond repair. Thank goodness they created such a nice and fast bootable install DVD! I haven't tried Vista at all. I wonder if my main PC is strong enough to do it? (AMD XP2800, 1GB RAM, ATI 9800Pro 128MB)

I've read horror stories in various Kubuntu/Ubuntu forum posts about folks having rough times with libraries and dependencies for installing programs. Whew, I am sure it will happen to me. I have no idea how to compile anything...I thought that was only for programmers.

I did get Opera installed with no problems other than Opera's installer not creating a link to the browser on my desktop or K Menu. I had to manually create a link (shortcut). No biggie. I updated my blog with that install.

[Kougar]

Almost everything I wanted to use (when I tried Red Hat) had to be downloaded, then the folder full of random files compiled into a working "exe" to use those files, if you will. (Which requires it's own program to do the compiling, if the linux install lacks the ability) The more popular a distro of linux is the more likely you'll find pre-compiled programs for it though. Honestly I didn't make much headway beyond that, you probably already know more than I do ;)

As for running Vista... I currently have HT off, but Vista is working like a charm as long as I don't rock the boat ;) It has some really useful stuff already working, programs that should help the average Joe user out a good ways...

What is ironic to me is that Vista runs only a little slower than XP on my machine. And I use a 9600XT for my graphics, which is only roughly 3/4ths at best of your own graphics card. I won't turn this into a pro Vista thread, but I'll end saying that I am thinking of photocopying my XP install onto a new drive, and letting Vista upgrade "XP Pro" into "Vista Ultimate". For not even being a RC1 release yet, it's stable enough.

As for the bootable CD... that should prove to be a lifesaver. I could've used that with Red Hat... :)

I don't know if you already have programs for this or not, but for playing video files (And I mean every video file that exists!) you should try http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) It even has extra packages for a GUI front-end, otherwise you can just use the keyboard shortcuts to control everything. (Site seems to be awol, for the moment).

For instant messaging there is gAIM. If you have heard of Trillian, then that's all you need to know about gAIM pretty much. ;) http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) It's not as feature rich or quite as pretty, but it works. I use both mplayer and gAIM for XP, but both are primarily designed for Linux. :p

[Das Capitolin]

Ubuntu has been a real easy endeavor or me. The latest version works with a few minor hiccups, but otherwise its pretty nice.

[Rob]

I've been doing pretty well with getting programs installed. I have Opera, Thunderbird, Firefox, Flash Player, and Java installed so far. I still haven't gotten Kubuntu to play MP3 files yet. :( The thing I really don't like about Linux is having to use the command line. It works well, but I really just don't like it.

Hmm, well maybe I will give Vista a try one day. It seems maybe my hardware can handle it after all.

I have heard of mplayer but I haven't tried to install it yet. I'll have to look into it. I installed Kubuntu 6.06 on my brother's old P2-450 IBM Thinkpad yesterday. Installation was a breeze and we even got his 802.11b wireless PCMCIA card to work perfectly without doing a thing other than enabling it. Amazing!!

Linux is definitely making strides in the hardware and ease-of-use departments. We did install gAIM on his laptop. It worked perfectly.

Ubuntu is much more popular than Kubuntu. I am glad to hear you've had an easy time with Linux as I have, Das Capitolin. Not everyone is so lucky as we are. The (K)Ubuntu forums out there are filled with people with horror stories.

[Kougar]

Oops... see, I didn't even catch that Kubuntu and Ubuntu were different distros... What's the major difference?

And I've never used Mplayer for mp3s... but it plays anything you throw at it as it's now playing my mp3 collection, with pretty good quality at that. ;) It's giving me better bass response than Winamp, at least before I modify the equalizer settings. Mplayer will use hardware acceleration to help clean up any pixelation and such, however you usually need to find and DL a tweaked dll pack for the specific drivers to match your vid card. If you use the generic package it'll work fine though.

Edit: I should add that mplayer does NOT install. You jsut download and unzip, and either drag files ontop of the .exe or a shortcut pointing to it to launch the file. Nothing installed at all, which makes it nice for systems where there are codec problems as it ignores the system's own installed codecs...

[Rob]

There is only one difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Kubuntu is Ubuntu but with the KDE desktop rather than GNOME. That's it. I chose Kubuntu over Ubuntu simply because I like KDE's look better. :P

But if you're wanting fast, plentiful support from the community then Ubuntu is your best bet. The Ubuntu Forums are very, very busy while the Kubuntu Forums are pretty darn slow. Either way you go everyone seems to be very friendly and helpful. I'm having fun and I'm learning a lot...which is precisely why I installed Linux in the first place.

Mplayer is sounding better and better with each of your posts. I still haven't tried it out on Kubuntu yet. I need to do that soon. I've been tweaking Opera and Firefox too much to install a media player. Hehe.

[liqnit]

i am going through your blog and it is very intresting
maybe i will be tempted to try it

[Rob]

You should definitely try it out. I'm really learning a lot and I'm actually having fun. My experience this time with Kubuntu Linux is far different from what it was about 5 years ago with Red Hat Linux. Linux has really been improved so much.

I'll be updating that blog more as I go along. The key is to have your computer connected to the Internet (via router or modem, but not wireless) during install. Kubuntu searches for updates during the install process and installs them before your first bootup. I think that's really smart.

Give 'er a try...I think you'll be surprised at how far Linux has come along.

[Reyawn]

My only problem with the *ubuntu linux distributions is that they don't seem to be as "legacy friendly". I had an old IBM 600X laptop and it didn't have the correct graphics drivers, so I had to go back to SuSE (I liked Kubuntu because it fit on 1 cd, and so was an easier install...SuSE has 5 or 6, and I would've gotten the DVD except that the laptop didn't have a DVD drive).

I have to say that I really enjoy the SuSE linux experience, it works great and there are a ton of packages for it as well.

[vfrex]

Reyawn, one of my co-workers was hired by Novell right out of school. He's very bright, and is working on SUSE. I realize it doesn't say much, but it at least suggests to me that they are finding the right employees. He's very optimistic about SUSE, so I think I will be giving it a shot. XGL is supposed to be really cool.

So far, I've used Debian, Ubuntu, RH9, and Redhat Enterprise 3. Also, freeBSD. Ubuntu is really easy to get working. It is picking up a lot of momentum, especially from people trying to make the switch from Windows. I encourage anybody who has made the switch to Ubuntu give some of the other distributions a chance though. There's not much to lose, since they are free!

[Rob]

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and MEPIS are supposed to be some of the easiest Linux distros to install. From experience I can tell you Kubuntu is easy to install and I am sure Ubuntu would be, too. (Xubuntu should be cake as well.) Xandros is another distro out there for the novice...it even comes with support!

[Absolut352]

After trying all the major distros Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Gentoo and SUSE the only one that worked with my hardware 100% on a Dell 700m was Suse 10.1. Really the only hardware i had any trouble with on the others was the intel 2200 wifi card. And tweaking with drivers for linux was extrodinarily difficult. I absolutely require wifi on a laptop so if the wifi doesnt work out of the box then the distro was no good to me. Suse is a real looker tho and i highley recomend it . Xgl on it really gives vista a run for its $. Check it out here. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1982432,00.asp Just my 2c

[Das Capitolin]

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and MEPIS are supposed to be some of the easiest Linux distros to install. From experience I can tell you Kubuntu is easy to install and I am sure Ubuntu would be, too. (Xubuntu should be cake as well.) Xandros is another distro out there for the novice...it even comes with support!

Ubuntu was my first Linux experience. At first I had problems with the install because of the HD audio, but that was fixed in this last release. It is a very promising and capable O/S.

[Rob]

Yes, Linux definitely has a problem with wireless drivers. I have a wireless USB adapter that will not work in Linux. I have tried so many different things to make it work---everything has failed. Even ndiswrapper couldn't get it to work. My brother was much more lucky. He has a laptop with a Netgear MA521 and Kubuntu 6.06 fired that wireless card right up with no problems. I guess it just depends on the card...

I haven't tried Ubuntu yet since I prefer the look of KDE. But I might give it a try sometime when I totally jack up my Kubuntu OS. :P